What to Pray at the Top of Your Day

This week we are memorizing the first part of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-11) at Do Not Depart.
The prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” never impacted me so
powerfully as it did when I learned the depth of these incredible words
from Kay Arthur’s study, “Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days.”
In her study, she uses the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) as her
template for teaching on how to pray. It was a fabulous study, but when
we got to this phrase, “Give us this day, our daily bread” I had no idea
what that had really been saying all along.

Before
I did this study with the ladies at my church, I had always taken this
verse at face value, assuming the prayer was simply asking for enough
food to last for the day. But it means so much more than that.

Rather
than being limited to just food, when Jesus taught the disciples to
pray for their daily bread, Jesus was modeling for them and us that when
we pray that we would be utterly dependent upon God to provide all that
we would need for the day. Since God is all knowing, and our Heavenly
Father Who loves to give good gifts to His children, Who better to ask
to provide for our daily needs?

And why daily? Why not weekly or monthly?

First,
daily because God desires that we look to Him to supply all that we
need daily. Those you love most, don't you want to see them daily? Don't
you look forward to when you'll see them again and rejoice when you do
get to spend time together? God's no different with us. He knows if He
gave us over and beyond what we need, we might not be as diligent to
spend time with Him in prayer or in His Word.

Secondly, daily because tomorrow is promised to no one. (James 4:13-15)

Thirdly, daily because Proverbs shows what could happen if God were to give us any less or any more than our daily bread:

Give me neither poverty nor riches—Feed me with the food allotted to me;Lest I be full and deny You,And say, “Who is the Lord?”Or lest I be poor and steal,And profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:8-9

If God gave us less than our daily bread, our need for the day, we’d be poor and may be tempted to steal. If
God gave us more than we needed either daily or by giving us a weekly
or monthly supply, we’d be full in both our tummies and our possessions.
In that state we may be tempted to credit and trust someone else other
than God for such abundant blessings, causing us to deny the Lord and
His goodness to us. Neither extreme is good. So God in His goodness
gives us this day our daily bread.

We pray for providential supplies for ourselves and others — “Give us .”

We
ask for our food as a gift — Give us.” We request no more than bread,
or food needful for us. Our petition concerns the day, and asks only for
a daily supply; bread enough for this day. We ask not for bread which
belongs to others, but only for that which is honestly our own, — “our
daily bread. ” It is the prayer of a lowly and contented mind, of one
who is so sanctified that he waits upon God even about his daily food,
and of one who lovingly links others with himself in his sympathy and
prayer. “

I love how D.L. Moody explains why we need to daily depend on God for all our needs,

“A
man can no more take a supply of grace for the future than he can eat
enough today to last him for the next 6 months, nor can he inhale
sufficient air into his lungs with one breath to sustain life for a week
to come. We are permitted to draw upon God’s store of grace from day to
day as we need it!

God never gives His strength in advance, so let’s stop crossing bridges before we come to them.
The Heavenly Father will graciously supply our every need—one day at a
time! Don’t try to bear tomorrow’s burdens with today’s grace.”

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As the children of Israel were commanded to collect manna daily - - every day (except the 7th day) we can pray and believe for our daily needs to be supplied. Thank you for your lovely thoughts shared on your post.

Well said, Hazel! "As the children of Israel were commanded to collect manna daily - - every day (except the 7th day) we can pray and believe for our daily needs to be supplied." God is so faithful to provide! God bless you completely!

The model Jesus gave us for prayer is rich, isn't it? I love Kay Aurthur, too...what a wonderful example of Titus 2! Thank you for linking this post up with me. I hope you'll be back today to link up again!